The Death and Life of Dean Winchester
by detectivetimehunter
Summary: Based on the film Charlie St. Cloud. When Dean comes back from the dead after being in a car crash with his younger brother, how will he cope when he realises that he can interact with the spirit world. Death!fic
1. Chapter 1

**I started writing this fic ages ago based on Charlie St. Cloud so, if you've seen it, you'll know roughly what will happen. If not, hopefully you'll still enjoy it.**

 **Disclaimer: I own neither Supernatural or Charlie St. Cloud**

 **Warning: some language**

* * *

Held up in a dingy, old motel in a nowhere town in Massachusetts, that's where you'd find an fourteen year old boy with long floppy hair and a dimpled smile with his nineteen year old brother who was protective, strong and not bad on the eyes. Their names were Sam and Dean Winchester and they weren't your usual teenagers.

These boys lived life on the road with their father, the infamous John Winchester. Now, John Winchester had an interesting occupation to say the least. When Sam was but an infant on just six months old, he witnessed the most horrific thing anyone could ever see. That dark night, Mary Winchester burnt on the ceiling which filed John in the hunt to find and destroy the evil basted that broke his family.

Now, being on the road was no life for two teenagers but it wasn't like John could just abandon the hunt especially when people's lives were still in danger. So John would abandon his boys often in a random, cheap motel with enough money to last a few weeks and would drive off to a hunt somewhere across the country. He had left his boys (mainly Dean) with strict instructions: "Keep the doors and windows locked. Lay down salt around the room. No leaving the room after nine pm. And most importantly, watch out for Sammy." To which both brothers rolled their eyes with a sigh. Then, John had left.

Currently, John had been gone for four days and checked in with them every night to make sure that they were okay and were doing what they had been asked. But four days on a curfew was beginning to affect both teens and they were practically climbing the walls after nine o'clock.

"Right, c'mon kiddo." Dean sighed, ruffling his little brother's hair and grabbing his keys and hand-me-down leather jacket.

"Where are we going?" A perplexed Sam asked as he pulled on his oversized baseball jacket.

"We are going to train in the woods." Dean informed as he opened the door, letting Sam walk ahead of him. He opened the boot of the Impala and grabbed two handguns and a bag of cans used for shooting. "Right, every night at six o'clock, we will meet at the fallen tree in the woods and we will train for an hour."

"I don't need to train." Sam whined like a petulant baby. "I'm fifteen in three months so it's not like I'm a baby anymore."

"C'mon Sammy," Dean sighed, looking down at his younger brother. "I'll be training with you and it will get us out of the house for a while."

"Fine." Sam groaned but he was doing this to make Dean happy. "I'll do it but can it actually be fun?"

"I'm offended!" Dean faked a gasp. "When am I not fun?"

"Since you turned into an old man." Sam giggled and ran ahead as Dean tried to hit him on the back of his head. Dean laughed and chased Sam into the woods, slowing as the fallen tree came into view. Sam was nowhere to be seen.

"Sam!" Dean shouted, putting down the bag and looking around for the youngest Winchester. "Sammy, where are you?"

Suddenly, Dean was on his back on the forest floor, staring up at his brother who was laughing and grinning down at him.

"Gotcha." Sam giggled and Dean smiled before knocking Sam off him and rolling over to pin Sam to the floor.

"Nice dude," Dean laughed. "But we aren't gonna spar without Dad here because someone could get hurt and I don't wanna get my ass kicked if you end up in hospital."

Sam rolled his eyes as Dean got off him and he stood, brushing off his clothes. "I'm not gonna end up in hospital if you don't try to break my arm like last time."

"That was because you tried to punch me in the face." Dean argued.

"It was well deserved." Sam muttered and let out a small shout when Dean pulled him into a headlock.

"Is that so, you little bitch?" Dean teased as Sam attempted to escape his grasp.

"It's true, jerk!" Sam laughed and clawed at Dean's arms as he tried to free himself.

"C'mon, Sammy!" Dean shouted. "If I was a werewolf, I'm not gonna let go because you're trying to scratch me!"

Sam kept trying to fight his brother but suddenly lifted his legs from under him, putting all of his weight on Dean's arm, forcing Dean to drop him to the ground.

"Sam!" Dean gasped as Sam coughed but grinned up at him. "I can't believe you just did that. You could've gotten hurt, you idiot."

"Well, I didn't..." Sam glared at him. "You said get out of it but I couldn't and I knew that was the only way."

"Right...I'm sorry." Dean apologised and started setting up the cans on the log of the fallen tree. "Now, you're gonna shoot these cans down." Dean handed Sam his gun.

"Easy peasy." Sam muttered and stepped back a few paces before aiming and firing at the cans, knocking them down.

"Nice try, squirt." Dean set the cans up again and moved Sam back even further from the cans. "That was way too close so try again. It's unlikely that you'd be that close to a wendigo in the forest because you'd already be dead."

Sam groaned and aimed at the cans again, missing the first three shots but clipping a can on the fourth.

"See? You do need training." Dean pointed out as Sam shot him a glare to which Dean just shrugged. "It's true though."

"I guess." Sam sighed. "Fine, I'll meet you here at six every night but you have to be more fun."

"Deal." Dean grinned as he shook hands with Sam.

SPN

It wasn't long before the two brothers returned to their motel room and Sam collapsed face first on the bed whilst Dean went to the small kitchenette to put Sam's dinner on.

"Sammy, dinner's on the stove and it'll be ready in about ten minutes." Dean waited for Sam to show he had heard him and left as Sam grunted into the pillow.

Dean shut the door and headed to the Impala, getting into the driver's seat. He grinned and rubbed his hands over the steering wheel. His baby was his pride and joy and was his gift from his father for his eighteenth birthday. His put the keys in the ignition and started the engine, pulling away. He cursed loudly when he saw a figure stood in front of the car, their arms waving widely in the air. It was Sam.

"Jesus, Sam!" Dean wound down the window and stuck his head out, glaring at his brother. "Do you have a death wish?"

Sam sighed and got into the seat next to Dean.

"No, no, no. What are you doing?" Dean asked, turning to fully face Sam.

"I wanna come with you and Dad said you have to look after me." Sam spoke in a petulant manner and stuck his tongue out.

Dean slouched in his seat and slapped the steering wheel with a groan. "Damn it! Fine, alright. You can come with but if you breath a word about this to dad, I will end you."

"I'm not a fucking idiot, Dean. I know what Dad would say."

Dean slapped the back of Sam's head making him moan in pain.

"If Dad hurt you cursing, he would kick your ass so hard you wouldn't sit down for a week." Dean commented earning a glare from Sam.

"You swear all the time, jackass." Sam frowned.

"I'm the eldest."

Sam slumped in his seat, crossing his arms across his chest and gazing out of the window as Dean sighed and pulled away from the parking lot. He reached under his seat and grasped the large shoebox full of cassette tapes, dumping it on Sam's lap making the younger boy jump in surprise.

"Pick one." Dean ordered.

"I thought..."

"Driver picks the music, I know." Dean interrupted. "I'm trying to brighten that look on your face. Right now, you no fun so pick something."

Sam raised a brow and smirked before rifling through the cassette tapes in his lap. He grinned when he found his Beatles cassette and stuck it into the radio. Dean rolled his eyes as Sam started singing along to 'Let it Be' completely off key.

Suddenly, something slammed into the back of the car making them spin into a main road. The brothers turned to share a stunned look and Sam only had time to utter Dean's name before a truck crashed into the side of the car and they were both plunged into darkness.

 **Tbc...**


	2. Chapter 2

Covered in blood and cuts, the brothers held each other tightly, their hands linked in a bruising grip.

"Dean, please don't leave me." Sam uttered, fear evident in his voice.

"I won't," Dean told him, squeezing Sam's hand. He blinked when a light hit his eyes and he guessed it was from a torch. "I think that's the paramedics. They're looking for us."

"Please don't leave me." Sam begged again.

"I won't."

SPN

In the back of a random ambulance, two boys' hearts stopped beating; the absent whine of the heart monitors still ringed around despite their bodies beginning to turn cold. The smaller boy was dead at the scene but the elder had died in the back of the ambulance. The paramedic refused to give up, shocking the boy in an attempt to get his heart started again. He kissed the medallion around his neck and sent a prayer up to Saint Jude.

Suddenly, when all hope was lost, the heart monitor started beeping again and, ever so slowly, the boy's deep green eyes opened. He let out a groan and the paramedic let out a sigh of relief, a small smile on his pale, worn out face.

"You're okay, son." The paramedic smiled gently and rubbed the kid's arm.

"Sam?" The boy moaned and tried to sit up, blinking around in the fluorescent lights. "Where's Sam?"

The smile vanished from the paramedic's lips as the boy lying before him turned his head in panic, searching the ambulance desperately for clues as to where this 'Sam' was. The older man tried to calm him down, but realised he was too late when the kid's eyes hand landed on the slim, pale arm of the body of the small teen on the other stretcher.

"Sam! That's my brother! No, Sammy!" The boy shouted, reaching towards the younger boy's hand. The paramedic looked upon the sorry sight before him and had no choice but to inject the older boy with a sedative to calm him and send him into a dreamless sleep.

Dean shouted at the man to stop and screamed Sam's name before he fell limp on the bed, his arm stretching across the vehicle in a desperate attempt to reach the other boy.

SPN

The past two weeks had been the hardest of Dean's life. He didn't think he had ever felt so empty and hopeless, not even when his mum had died. It had taken two days for John to come back to town and another two before Dean was released from hospital.

Since John had arrived four days ago, he looked at Dean differently. Dean knew it was his fault that Sam was dead, but the looks that John gave him now made him feel dead inside.

John managed to get Sam's small, frail body released to him and had planned a hunter's funeral which Dean wasn't happy about. Despite Dean not wanting this, he helped his father build the pyre in complete silence and watched with tears in his eyes as the flames licked at Sam's body. He knew now that this what it; his little brother had left the world and he wasn't going to be coming back. He couldn't take it.

Dean clutched the amulet around his neck and stepped back, shaking his head in denial, refusing to believe that Sam had left him.

"Dean, son, do you want to say anything?" He heard his father say.

He eyes stung with tears and he turned, running as far from the burning pyre as he could. His legs moved as fast as they could and he could feel the lactic acid pumping through his veins. He choked on a sob but kept running farther and farther away, deeper and deeper into the woods until he reached the fallen tree where he collapsed onto his knees and sobbed until his chest hurt and his eyes had cried all his tears.

Dean wondered how long he had been sat there and checked his watched seeing that it was almost six o'clock. If he had any tears left, he would have cried even harder with the realisation that it was the time that he promised Sam they would meet.

"You okay, Dean?"

Dean startled and span around, his eyes wide with both shock and fright. There he was...his little brother stood before him as if nothing had happened. In his eyes, Dean noticed the love and admiration that was always present in those hazel orbs.

"S-Sammy?" Dean asked almost uncertain, his voice hoarse from the sobs that had earlier racked his body. "You're okay?"

"Of course I'm okay, you idiot." Sam laughed, grinning wide enough for his dimples to make an appearance on his cheeks. "You remember what you said, right?"

"What I said?" Dean asked again, slowly getting to his feet.

"Don't tell me you forgot." Sam pouted in a way that managed to make him appear as a young child. "We meet here, every night, at six o'clock and we will train for an hour."

Dean nodded and stared absently at the forest floor.

"So, are we gonna get started?" Sam asked innocently, dumping the bag of cans onto the floor.

"Sure, Sammy." Dean grinned though his eyes were filled with sadness. He watched as Sam set the cans on the fallen tree and picked up his handgun.

Dean wiped a hand over his face and sighed deeply before leading Sam a good distance from the cans. He leaned over Sam's shoulder and positioned his hands on the gun, helping his little brother aim at the cans.

"Right, when you're ready, pull the trigger."

Dean stood back and watched as Sam's face contorted as he concentrated on the cans, his tongue peeking out of the corner of his mouth making him appear childish and adorable. This made Dean smile sadly as he realised just how young Sam was; too young.

Slowly, Sam's finger pressed the trigger and the bullet knocked down all of the cans. Sam turned and grinned triumphantly up at Dean, dimples digging deeply into his cheek. Dean found himself grinning back and he ruffled Sam's shaggy hair before Sam flung his arms around Dean's waist, hugging him tightly.

"Thanks Dean." Sam mumbled against Dean's stomach.

"It's not a problem, Sammy." Dean's voice cracked as he patted Sam's back.

Sam raised his head to look at his brother.

"Don't tell Dad about this, okay?"

"Of course not." Dean reassured him.

 **TBC…**

 **Sorry for the late story update. Been working on a few things for uni and I've now got another project on the go but my muse has returned for this one so let's get this show on the road!**

 **Reviews are love**


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